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Kazoku Kokka. Emergence of Meiji Japan as a “Family-State”. Weiner: Chapter 1-- Invention of Identity: Self and Other in pre-war Japan. Meiji Task Take “Heterogenous” Population and provide sense of Homogenity and Community. Key Terms
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Kazoku Kokka Emergence of Meiji Japan as a “Family-State”
Weiner: Chapter 1-- Invention of Identity: Self and Other in pre-war Japan Meiji Task Take “Heterogenous” Population and provide sense of Homogenity and Community
Key Terms • kazoku kokka -- Japan as a Family state with the emperor as the father • minzuko - the people, ethnicity, nation • jinshu - race
Translate into Key Concepts • Nation = Race • Blood = Culture • Japan is merely the modern manifestation of a primordial community (we’ve always been like this, always the same) • Thus there is a biological basis for the Japanese nation
Thus Japanese “differentness” is related • genes • reflected in the culture • Aside -- one might say that not only are Japanese different in using the left brain/right brain functions for reading and writing, but they have to be different
Where did this pre-Pacific (WWII) War idea come from? • Western Concept of “Scientific” racism • Social Darwinism (with underlying ideas like environmental determinism) • suggests • “self” as civilized (Japanese) • “other” as uncivilized (minorities, outsiders…)
Human Geographical Look at Japan • What is a Country? • How did Modern Japan come into existence
What is a Country? • Geographic Principles • Confusing and Overlapping terms • Countryor State • Nation • Nation--State
George Demko's Definition • Nation has: • 1. Defined Territory • 2. Stationary Population with common • culture • language • history • Hence Place and Common People/Experience
George Demko's Definition • State has: • 1. Government and Political System • 2. Organized economy policed by Government • Hence Stability and Security based on Rules
Matt Rosenberg expansion on Demko’s definition Country/State has 8 things: • Has space or territory that has internationally recognized boundaries (boundary disputes are OK). • Has people who live there on an ongoing basis. • Has economic activity and an organized economy. A country regulates foreign and domestic trade and issues money. http://geography.about.com/cs/politicalgeog/a/statenation.htm
Matt Rosenberg expansion on Demko’s definition cont… • Has the power of social engineering, such as education. • Has a transportation system for moving goods and people. • Has a government that provides public services and police power. • Has sovereignty. No other State should have power over the country's territory. • Has external recognition. A country has been "voted into the club" by other countries.
A Nation-State has: • All the hallmarks of a single nation (people and place) • Plus those of a state (government and policed economy) • This is opposed to a multinational state • A country made up of many different and distinct ethnic groups, languages, cultures, histories… (past places like the Soviet Union or Yugoslavia or present day African Countries like Congo) • No place except perhaps Iceland is a perfect Nation-State, but most European Countries are close (although recent immigration is changing this)
Note • A Nation is not synonymous with State • Kurds are by this definition a Nation without a state, so are Lummi’s, or Ainu • On the other hand the post-colonial world and remaining “land empires” are states with multiple nations. • The Meiji issue – make the Japanese state synonymous with the Japanese nation • Yet Meiji Japan had imperial ambitions that caused it to expand the State beyond even its self defined Nation
Short Course in Japanese History • 1185 -- 1598 Medieval Age • Weak Emperor • Warrior class government • Era of Warring States • Three Southern Islands, certainly Nation • Government only in name • Drive for Unification termination period • Oda Nobunaga(1534--82) dies attempting • Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536--98) finishes unification then tries to conquer Korea (China) • Tokagawa Iasu solidifies the new nation-state http://www.nigelspencer.co.uk/web-pages/old-map-pages/old-map-early.htm
1603--1868 Tokugawa Or Edo Era • Tokugawa Iasu Completes Unification • Continued weak Emperor System • Single Family rule • Closed to outside world
Tokugawa Period • Typified as “Feudal” Era • Emphasized Stability • Time is seen as effectively “eternal” in length • However Time is cyclical in day-to-day/seasonal events • Country – a confederation of Feudal Domains
Tokugawa Period Cultural similarity & differences based on concentric spatial distance Ka-i System Borrowed from China
Ka-i Ka – the civilized center • Write with characters • Eat rice with chopsticks • Live close to capital • Included the 3 Main Islands i – the barbarian fringe • Do the above to ever decreasing degree • Most distant absolute savages • Thus, China not more civilized then Japan, but Aniu more “civilized” then Dutch or Portugese
Internal and External Controls • “Japaneseness” based on location • Since the far outside is Savage, can be avoided • Closed to outside world
Meiji Era • 1868 -- 1945 Early Modern Period -- Oligarchy Rules • Emperor "restored" • Top down rule • Modernization = Industrialization = Militarization • Rich Country, Strong Military
Meiji Era‘create an unbroken sense of continuity based on the restoration of the Emperor’ Creation of Strong State task 1 Creation of Nation-State task 2 Time recognized as dynamic – social development a possibility Ainu and other minorities although “Japanese” by location – are seen as remnants of a primitive/dying race Task of Meiji Government is to give voice to these contradictions and prove the Japanese race has an eternal, homogeneous heritage.
Meiji EraHeritage Creation of Strong Imperial State -- task 1 Creation of Asian Hierarchy -- task 2 Japan demonstrates equality with the West at the Imperial Game Other Asians should gladly accept and respect the role of Japan as “the head” of the Asian family of races From all of this will result Japan’s relationships with other groups/minorities it comes in contact with.
Recent News on Minority Issues Japan Times Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009 CHRIS MacKENZIE ILLUSTRATION THE ZEIT GIST Breaking the silence on burakumin Minority community has plenty to offer
Recent News on Minority Issues Japan Times Friday, Jan. 9, 2009 Hibakusha to be checked in S. Korea HIROSHIMA (Kyodo) The Hiroshima Municipal Government will send two officials to South Korea to meet with six bedridden hibakusha and examine their applications for health books for atomic-bomb survivors, it said Wednesday. The overseas interviews to be conducted between Jan. 15 and 20 will be the first since the revision last month of a law to enable survivors living abroad to file applications for the health books without having to visit Japan. The six survivors, aged between 67 and 99, will be issued with the health books as soon as the officials are able to verify their identities.
